IT'S easy to overlook the cluster of houses at the end of St Michael's Terrace in Sandy Park, what with the modern apartment complexes and houses that surround it.

Once you get there, however, the spirit of the people and the ethos by which they say the St Andrew North Eastern community operates eclipse the fact that the area is informal and lacking in development.

"This is the best ghetto uptown," declares Rema Bruce who runs a small shop in the community.

"It's violence free. You can leave your door open at night. You can leave your goods and go bathe or cook and nobody trouble them. We don't use dons here, we don't do extortion and we don't fight. Anybody who do it have to leave," she said.

Bruce's neighbours, some of whom are sitting with her at the front of someone else's shop, agree with her.

"Our politics is family," says DJ Chicken.

Adds Clement Wright: "PNP eat outta Labourite pot and Labourite eat outta PNP pot here."

"Sandy Park people don't depend on MP or councillor," says Camelia Sealey. "Wi care fi one ah neddda. Wi live loving whether yuh ah PNP or Labourite.

"The only thing we want is good road... and we want to see the rest ah di zinc fence come out so di place can look decent," she says, adding that Sandy Park Basic School also needs infrastructural development in the form of a playing field and a roof for a grandstand the residents built themselves.

The zinc is almost all gone in Grants Pen -- thanks to the Government initiative to at once lift the morale of inner-city communities and make law enforcement in those areas easier and safer for lawmen -- and several roads have been patched. Grants Pen Drive (formerly Grants Pen gully) residents welcome the change and are pleased they now "have an address", but they wish they had a close-knit, violence-free community similar to that of Sandy Park.

"Ah yessideh wi get address," one woman says. "All dem fence here new, ah zinc fence wi did have before. All ah di house dem nuh even have number yet."

"Only one ting mi would like to see an ah dat is for the shot dem to stop fire and people live good. Mi born and grow here and mi ah almost 40 now. Mi just waan di war fi stop and people live good," another woman who declines the use of her name tells the Sunday Observer.

Grants Pen is a known hot spot, but it has been relatively quiet in recent months. Residents say, however, that there has been a resurgence of violence since the middle of last year and although no one has yet been killed, they say it is too early to determine how bad things will get.

"Mi cyaan tek di war," says Marcia Taylor. The women say residents, particularly men, from one side of the community are barred from entering the other and that it gets in the way of sustaining relationships with their neighbours.

In addition to violence, the residents say they need employment opportunities.

"We need some work to show off our skills. We're just sitting down looking into space and is not like mi nuh seek out, but di people dem only want foreign tings, dem nah buy the local tings," says Taylor who does crochet work.

Communities such as Graham Heights, Drumblair and the Retreat Gardens area are also plagued by crime, albeit of a different nature than that which is playing out in Grants Pen. Citizens there complain of car theft and bag snatching. Some also take issue with the growing commercialisation of their communities and the accompanying noise nuisance.

"When I came here almost 30 years ago it was more relaxing," says Nevin Woolcock of Graham Heights. "The people were more open. I could leave here and leave my gate open, but that can't happen today. Because of the crime, a little tension has developed."

"Two or three months ago we had reports of cars being stolen and bags being snatched. They even stabbed a girl some weeks ago. It has toned down somewhat now but it is still a concern," adds Cedric Law.

According to Roderick Byles in Drumblair, other than sporadic outbreaks of violence which send residents dodging bullets in their own yards, criminals terrorise business people in the constituency, threatening investment in the area.

Crime and violence are not at this time a problem for residents of Cherry Gardens but there is a fear that a number of houses that have been left unfinished could invite criminal elements into the upper St Andrew suburb.

"There are two or three unfinished homes that are left unattended that might attract unwanted elements to take up residence. That presents a security concern for us," says Jack Shirley, who adds that the roads in the community are in a deplorable condition.

On the contrary, residents of Waterloo (except maybe those in Waterloo Mews where the road surface is far from smooth) are happy with the road improvements in their area, particularly the raising of the Sandy Gully bridge and the widening of the road in the vicinity of the MegaMart wholesale store. Roads in Drumblair were also recently resurfaced.

"They just recently paved the road so I'm pleased with that. I've been living here close to 30 years and it's the first time in that time span that the roads have been fixed," says Byles.

Meanwhile, the National Water Commission-imposed water restrictions in the Corporate Area has residents calling on Government to implement a sustainable solution to the country's water issues.

"We have no water. Sometimes for over a week or more we have no water," says Leonie Jureidini of Jacks Hill. "I can do without light but not water. It is unsanitary. They promised to send us a truck last week but no truck has come and we have no water."

Jureidini says she has a water tank but that the reserves have long since been depleted and there has been no way to refill.

"I know there is water restriction but every year at this time this is what happens. The Government needs to address it in a way that is sustainable and long term," she says.

  2 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  4 comments